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An atlas of India's groundwater aquifers

Maps in the atlas, released by Central Ground Water Board, indicate priority areas for water conservation and groundwater recharge

The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has released an Atlas on Aquifer Systems of India with detailed data on 14 principal and 42 major aquifers. This pulls together archival information from the Board on aquifers in these states and presents it in graphical format through tables and maps. It is available at http://cgwb.gov.in/AQM/. The atlas also provides detailed data on six states: Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu.

The atlas presents the Board’s plans to manage different aquifers at the national level as well as in these six states. It also depicts areas identified for water conservation and harvesting, groundwater development and artificial recharge, both at the national level and within these states.

States for aquifer management

Type of aquifer

Parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu

Gneiss

Parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh

Banded Gneissic Complex

Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh

Basalt

Western Indo-Gangetic Plains

Alluvium

Consequences of ravaging the Aravalli

It also highlights what has been known for a long time—groundwater levels across India are falling and the quality of ground water is also declining. The decline is particularly sharp around Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. “Construction around the Aravalli hills has severely disturbed the ground water recharge in the entire region,” said CGWB chairperson S C Dhiman.

Certain areas of peninsular India are also severely affected by over-extraction of groundwater, the atlas shows. Dhiman, who retired the day the atlas was released on September 28, said the recharge process was faster in this rocky part of the country, and a few years of good rainfall could restore the health of the aquifers. Maps in the atlas indicate priority areas for water conservation and ground water recharge, and areas where water quality is affected by arsenic, fluoride and nitrates.

The baseline data of CGWB has been depicted using a GIS platform for initiating a National Aquifer Mapping Programme (NAMP) and demarcation, said water resources and parliamentary affairs minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Maps in the atlas show various thematic layers such as climate, topographic settings on the occurrence of aquifers, movement, and chemical quality of ground water. The compilation has been done on a scale of 1:250,000 by integrating the geological and hydro-geological data of CGWB, the Geological Survey of India, and other agencies. Tables provide information on the characteristics of aquifers as they occur in different parts of the country. The atlas took two years to prepare and the purpose was to provide a broad overview of the groundwater situation in the country, said S K Sinha, scientist-D with CGWB.

Long-term sustainability plan

Groundwater expert and head of the Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM), Himanshu Kulkarni, said the atlas will help to identify vulnerable areas and can be the basis for further research. However, “it is not a replacement for the aquifer mapping exercise to be conducted during the 12th Five Year Plan.” In this atlas, CGWB has brought its numerical and digital data into a map framework.

CGWB is contemplating NAMP on a scale of 1:50,000 or more during the next two Five Year Plans (12th and 13th). This will involve compilation and synthesis of all relevant data collected by CGWB and various other agencies. It will identify existing data gaps, create additional data and bring out comprehensive aquifer maps along, their groundwater potential and realistic and scientific management plans to ensure long-term sustainability.

Other groundwater information systems

There are already several groundwater information systems in India run by different government agencies. They all use base data from CGWB. CGWB’s own system is called the Groundwater Estimation and Management System. Funded by the World Bank, it has been implemented in nine states. It provides to compile, visualise, and analyse hydro-geological and allied attributes of groundwater resources. This system has been built using MapInfo Professional (GIS), MapInfo Vertical Mapper (spatial interpolation and contouring), SPSS (statistical analysis) and R2V (raster vector data conversion).

Another, also run by the Ministry of Water Resources, is the Generation of Database and Implementation of Web Enabled Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS). This again uses CGWB data and is a joint venture of the Central Water Commission, the ministry and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It aims at providing a single window solution for comprehensive, authoritative and consistent data and information of India’s water resources along with allied natural resources in a standardised national GIS framework (WGS-84 datum and LCC projection) tools.

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This is a major study, as it

This is a major study, as it appears. The write-up above is good and informative. The subject matter is very important; and we can ill afford to ignore it.

I have long held that India has more wealth in its water than Saudi Arabia has in its oil! But that we are spoiling it very crassly.

As a people we must learn to make our nation great. Surely this book will help us understanding our problems in this regards, and the solutions, thereto.

It is very good that CGWB has brought out "An Atlas of India's Groundwater Aquifers". Congratulations to the team of Professionals. Certainly it will be informative with lot of data. All these efforts are like one side of the COIN.

Now the big challenge is to transform it to LAND for better utilization, monitoring an evaluation. This is the second side of the COIN and the success lies in this phase only.

I am with the people at all level and able to see the reality at the grass root. In spite of having data and certain laws, the groundwater is totally disturbed by putting bore wells with out control over the depth whether it is for domestic of agricultural or industrial purpose. The affordable people are able to go deeper depths by affecting the shallow wells / aquifers.

It means the poor control over the depth of bore wells is spoiling the sub-surface water resources and further affecting the health & wealth of the PEOPLE & ENVIRONMENT.

In view of the water crises all over the Nation, it is the burning issue as life cannot be imagined with out WATER. Some of th key suggestions includes:

1. Based on the ground water resources fix the safer depth to be tapped at all levels.

2. Link this with the sanction of Electricity connection and loan support if it comes.

3. Make mandatory to develop rainwater harvesting pits around the bore wells so that maximum efforts will be made to replace the water exploited.

The suggestions are simple for implementation. It only needs concern and commitment for the sustainable development with quality for US and our children.